150w ago - Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has spoken out against dedicated videogame consoles, claiming that his company could be making significantly more money on open platforms like the PC.

To quote: Speaking to the Financial Times, Kotick claims that 60 percent of Xbox Live users are there "principally because of Call of Duty," and that Activision doesn't see a fair share of the money from it.

Kotick described closed console networks as "walled gardens," and said that his company would "very aggressively" support PC manufacturers such as Dell and HP in any efforts to produce gamer-friendly PCs that plug directly into televisions, creating the opportunity for Activision to open an online network of its own.

Kotick made similar statements to The Wall Street Journal last month, claiming at the time that only 30 percent of the company's profits come from console games.

151w ago - In an interview with Develop-Online.net (linked above), SCE studio boss Shuhei Yoshida revealed that developers will be more integrated into their future hardware plans.

To quote: "So he wanted developers in meetings at the very beginning of concepting new hardware, and he demanded SCE people talk to us (developers)."

And when asked whether this change in philosophy will be applied to future PlayStation hardware, Yoshida replied: "Yes, we are undergoing many activities that we haven't yet been talking about in public. Some future platform related activities."

Yoshida also hinted that several activities are currently being worked on that are not public yet, to quote: "undergoing many activities that we haven't yet been talking about in public. Some future platform related activities."

Whether he is referring to the rumored PSP2 or an upcoming PS4, things will definitely be exciting for next-generation gamers.

163w ago - Today Sony's PSP Marketing Manager Kristin Neirinckx has unveiled a new Big Boss Pack for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on the PlayStation Portable console.

To quote: A few weeks ago, we announced the METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER PSP Entertainment Pack will be available in the U.S. and Canada.

We have something very special for all of you ULTIMATE fans out there! Launching with the game on June 8, you can pick an exclusive limited edition "Big Boss" Pack for METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER, which will be available only at GameStop locations in the U.S. for $199.99 (MSRP).

This premium package combines the highly anticipated title from legendary developer Hideo Kojima with a "Camouflage" PSP-3000 system, which was inspired by the Central American setting for the game.

So, what's in it you ask? The limited-edition "Big Boss" Pack will include the following:

• "Camouflage" PSP-3000 system
• METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER game on UMD
• Voucher for in-game content unlockable early on in the game
• PlayStation Network downloadable movie voucher -- title to be announced (UMD will be available for Canadian residents)
• 4GB Memory Stick...

184w ago - During a recent interview with PlayStation: The Official Magazine (PTOM) in the Holiday '09 issue, PSN Director Eric Lempel discusses how Firmware update features are planned and released for the PlayStation 3 and PSP consoles and touches on cross-game voice chat.

To quote: "We go about doing that in a few different ways. We do consumer research in addition to following our roadmap.

We've had a very long roadmap that we've wanted to roll out, and clearly all of them couldn't be rolled out day one when the PS3 launched. So we've been implementing these features as we go along and some of them, and some of them take longer than others."

Lempel continued: "Of course time and manpower always factor in because there aren't limitless resources. And are sometimes key features that must go out in Firmware updates. For example, you saw on September 1, we released a 120GB PS3 and we did a Firmware update, and there were some enhancements in that specifically to bring on the new hardware."

The director of the PlayStation Network further explained: "We absolutely read all the feedback that we see on our blog when we do firmware updates. We have people who look across different forums and different sites. And we also do our own testing - some very extensive testing.."

208w ago - The July issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine (PTOM) features God of War 3 on its cover, and inside includes the first new info on the game since Sony unveiled it back in February.

Kicking things off, lead combat designer Adam Puhl goes into detail on the game's Spider-Man-style grappling ability, which essentially takes the grapple points from God of War 2 and places them on the game's enemies.

"At any point, if there's an enemy on the ground, in the air, wherever, Kratos can throw his blades at them, pull himself into that enemy [or pull the enemy over, or toss the enemy left or right], and perform a shoulder ram," he says.

"When it hits, the game slows down, so you get this impactful attack, and you can continue to combo after that... the combat grapple is a linker for the entire combat system."

While the article doesn't reveal any new weapons, it confirms there will be four "main" ones in the finished game, so that leaves two (in addition to the blades and the Cestus) that have yet to be revealed. Apparently each weapon will be tied to its own magic attacks, and one of the Cestus' magics sees Kratos "pound the ground to send a massive wave of destruction in front of him," according to PTOM 's Teresa Dun. Puhl notes that magic attacks "will have more gameplay...